Members Delirium trigger Posted October 17, 2014 Members Share Posted October 17, 2014 So, I put a dimarzio breed in one of my les paul's. It told me on the website it was supposed to be medium to high out put, yet it's not as high output as the stock gibson 498T pickups. They are wired in correctly. They sound very dark and muffled. Solo's sound okay on it, but a rhythm sounds like a cheap guitar. That muffled sound you remember when you got your first amp and guitar. It's very dark, almost no kids at all. There is no saturation, even with the gain turned up pretty high. There is lots of sustain on solo's, but wow I wanted more than that. It does have a lot of clarity but I can't get past the muddiness. Is it because I have it in a les paul or is the pickup supposed to sound like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted October 17, 2014 Members Share Posted October 17, 2014 Not sure about what issues you're encountering. I installed an FR spaced neck Dimarzio Breed into the bridge of my 98 (US) Hamer Mirage II to replace an SD JB and I couldn't be happier with it. I wanted a little jangle in the middle position and got it, but I got a lot more besides. Mine gives me excellent clarity with a little twang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Delirium trigger Posted October 17, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 17, 2014 Not sure about what issues you're encountering. I installed an FR spaced neck Dimarzio Breed into the bridge of my 98 (US) Hamer Mirage II to replace an SD JB and I couldn't be happier with it. I wanted a little jangle in the middle position and got it' date=' but I got a lot more besides. Mine gives me excellent clarity with a little twang.[/quote'] Really? That's the exact opposite of what happened to me. I have arranged it since this post to be a bit more clear. I'm not getting as much mud now. But I have to put the pickup very close to the strings, which I do with actives but normally don't with passives because of the magnets. How far do you have yours away from the strings? On this Les Paul, I don't have the normal fretwork I have done on the rest of my Les Paul's and other guitars. So, I can't set the neck completely straight and I can't lower the action too much because of frets going dead. It needs a fret job bad. But I lowered it anyway as much as I could and that helped the mud as well. I went ahead and got online and ordered some barenuckle nail bombs for my other les Paul and I guess I'll keep the breed one in this one. In my les paul it's lacking the mids big time. It's mostly low end. But the harmonics are okay and it does have clarity which is what makes me like it. But I hear these bare knuckles really make a les paul come alive so I ordered a set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted October 17, 2014 Members Share Posted October 17, 2014 I have a box full of Dimarzio's of various types I bought used. Most of them have the same issues you described. I suspect these were mostly made for various guitar brands and were pulled out and sold cheap because they did suck for tone. I was hoping I'd come across some like the ones I had in a Gibson "The Paul" that were killer sounding pickups. I was pretty sure they were super distortions in that guitar at that time. The ones I bought were supposed to be super distortions but they should have been called mud buckets instead because they truly do sound like crud. I'm sure they do make the models I had but its not worth the money buying blind and failing to snag the right ones. I did find some Mighty Might Cream HB's and they do nail the same kind of tones so I'm not in immediate need for anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted October 18, 2014 Members Share Posted October 18, 2014 So, I put a dimarzio breed in one of my les paul's. It told me on the website it was supposed to be medium to high out put, yet it's not as high output as the stock gibson 498T pickups. They are wired in correctly. They sound very dark and muffled. Solo's sound okay on it, but a rhythm sounds like a cheap guitar. That muffled sound you remember when you got your first amp and guitar. It's very dark, almost no kids at all. There is no saturation, even with the gain turned up pretty high. There is lots of sustain on solo's, but wow I wanted more than that. It does have a lot of clarity but I can't get past the muddiness. Is it because I have it in a les paul or is the pickup supposed to sound like this? I bought one to put in my Ibanez SZ and it sounded so boring. Nothing in the higher registry, like porridge with hot water and nothing else. Took it out immediately, get rid of it while you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AJ6stringsting Posted October 18, 2014 Members Share Posted October 18, 2014 Sometimes a new cap can make a difference. I have a late 1984 Kramer American series that has a Dimarzio X2N in the bridge, it had to much treble, I put in a 22mf cap and pulled out the .0053mf ceramic cap, the guitar is now pleasing to my ear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted October 18, 2014 Members Share Posted October 18, 2014 Life's too short to put up with pickups that don't work for you. I felt the same way about some lace sensors I just recently replaced on one of my Strats. Some folks like em but just not my cup of tea. Regarding the Breed I have in my Hamer, notice that it is a neck pickup that I've installed in the bridge position which gives it a warmer sound with more mids than normal I would imagine. You're right in that it is not a high output pickup, but in my guitar it has kind of a single coil presence which is what I was looking for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted October 18, 2014 Members Share Posted October 18, 2014 The OP may want to try wiring the pickup with coils in parallel and see what that does. That guitar I mentioned before had series parallel switches for the pickups and it really made a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Delirium trigger Posted October 18, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 18, 2014 The OP may want to try wiring the pickup with coils in parallel and see what that does. That guitar I mentioned before had series parallel switches for the pickups and it really made a difference. Mine are wired as coil taps. I have a PAF pro in the neck, the breed in the bridge. I can pull the volume knobs up to make them single coil. The breed sounds extremely good on cleans, and with single coil stuff. When turning it into a hum bucker, it doesn't have the kids or treble for the high gain stuff. It sounds okay as a classic rock type of pickup. I am used to the clarity of EMG's which I have in most of my guitars. I have passive pickups in some of the others, but clarity is a big deal to me. I do think it has okay clarity but that mid point just isn't there, at least in my guitar. It might would be there in something like Steve Vai plays. It sounds okay playing lead on it though. I'll keep it in this guitar but I won't buy another one. I'm going bare knuckle for my Gibson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.